Students protest in Davis, California after Donald Trump was elected Tuesday night. Some technologists in the Silicon Valley have proposed that the state leave the US in response.
Photograph: Max Whittaker/Reuters

As Donald Trump’s shock election victory reverberated around Silicon Valley late on Tuesday night, some high-profile technologists were already calling for California to secede from the United States.

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The broader west coast is a stronghold for the Democrats, and significantly more politically progressive and racially diverse than large swathes of central US. California is also the biggest economy in the US and the sixth largest in the world with a gross state product of $2.496tn for 2015, according to the IMF.

The campaign for independence – variously dubbed Calexit, Califrexit and Caleavefornia – has been regarded as a fringe movement. But support was revitalized by influential Uber investor and Hyperloop co-founder Shervin Pishevar, in a series of tweets announcing his plans to fund a “legitimate campaign for California to become its own nation” – posted even before the full results were in.

Shervin (@shervin)

1/ If Trump wins I am announcing and funding a legitimate campaign for California to become its own nation.

A few hours later, Hillary Clinton conceded the election to Trump, and Pishevar told CNBC that he was serious about Calexit. “It’s the most patriotic thing I can do,” he said, adding that the resulting nation would be called New California.

“We can re-enter the union after California becomes a nation. As the sixth largest economy in the world, the economic engine of the nation and provider of a large percentage of the federal budget, California carries a lot of weight,” he said.

Pishevar was supported by others in Silicon Valley. Angel investor Jason Calacanis said that California succession would be simple in the wake of both Brexit and a Trump win.

jason (@Jason)

If Trump can win, & after the #brexit, California succession would be a layup. CA is increasingly more distinct from America. #calexit

Pishevar’s comments add weight to the Yes California campaign, which launched in late 2015 calling to create a free, independent California Republic. Led by political activist Louis Marinelli, Yes California proposes a 2019 referendum, following the model adopted by Catalonia to gain independence from Spain.

Yes California (@YesCalifornia)

They said Donald Trump wouldn't happen. They said #Brexit wouldn't happen. What're you going to say if they tell you #Calexit won't happen?

Trump’s lone public supporter in Silicon Valley was Facebook board member and PayPal billionaire Peter Thiel, and even he acknowledged that the country faced an enormous challenge. “We’re going to need all hands on deck,” he said in a statement to USA Today. “He has an awesomely difficult task, since it is long past time for us to face up to our country’s problems.”